At the Metis Celebration and Powwow, people meet family members they never knew they had.

The annual gathering held in Lewistown draws Metis from Montana, Canada and elsewhere and is a celebration of the culture and history of the people who draw their ethnicity and culture from both French and Native American sources.

"We were the first (Metis celebration) in the United States, I think," said John LaFountain who, along with his brother Robert and sister Donna Walraven, spearhead organizing the event each year. "We've brought the cultural understanding a long way in 20 years."

The gathering is held in Lewistown at the Fergus County Fairgrounds because of its central location and also because the town was founded by the Metis and home to a large Metis population, LaFountain said.

The celebration kicks off Thursday at 3 p.m. when vendor booths open. At 7 p.m., there will be an open mike with music and socializing.

Friday's activities center around the Metis fiddle tradition. Events begin at 7 p.m. with the Metis national anthem, followed by a fundraising auction and competitions in jig and waltz dances and fiddle playing.

"(The fiddle contest) is for anybody who wants to come down, and we have good fiddlers come down," LaFountain said. "Everybody's welcome to enter … We don't charge any entry fees."

The contests are good opportunities for kids to learn how to dance too, LaFountain said. Even those who are not competing in dancing step up when the music begins.

Metis fiddle music is lively, with syncopated rhythms, fancy bow-work and foot tapping that accompanies the tune.

A kids rodeo kicks off Saturday morning at 9.

Saturday at noon is the opening of registration for the powwow. Grand entries are held at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. A free public feed is at 5:30.

Sunday sees a wellness walk in the morning, a grand entry at 1 p.m., another fundraising auction at 3 p.m. and announcement of contest winners at 5:30 p.m.

The powwow includes youth and adult brackets in all categories with top three dancers receiving prizes in traditional, fancy, grass, jingle, tiny tot and golden age categories. LaFountain said five to six drum groups and 90 dancers come out.

The auctions held Friday and Sunday raise funds to help cover the costs of the weekend, LaFountain said.

"Everything we make on the auction and the food goes back to the event," he explained.

LaFountain and his siblings began the celebration and powwow after an elder in Canada warned them that the Metis in the United States would lose their culture if they didn't work actively to keep it alive. Twenty years later, the celebration and powwow is going strong, and its organizers are happy to it.

"We've been doing it for 20 years," he said. "This is a real big deal for us."